Things Left Behind: Maes
by Laelia Sarai
Summary: When Roy returns from Ishbal, Maes has a hard time dealing with the consequences of his actions. Maes POV. Rated M for later chapters. Roy/Maes, Maes/Gracia


**Author's Note: **This is the sister fic to Things Left Behind: Roy and was NOT written by Emera D'Anae. It was written by Sull89, who is too lazy to post it on her own page. P So go check out her other FMA stories because they're all amazing. 3

With a soft sigh, Maes hung up the phone, running a hand down his face as he thought about the conversation he just had. He was happy, overjoyed even, that Roy was coming home from the rebellion safely, but the pall of what had happened since the alchemist left still hung around the older man and the news that he was coming home only served to make the cloud of uncertainty and sadness in Maes's gut thicken.

"Who was that, Maes?"

With his heart in his throat, Maes turned from the phone to look at the woman lying on the bed he and Roy had so often shared. His voice was a little choked, but Maes managed to get out what he needed to say anyway, "Roy… He'll be home soon; tonight actually, at 8." Running his fingers through tousled hair, Maes shook his head a little, sadness reflected in his eyes as he spoke, "He's coming home tonight, Gracia." His voice dropped to a whisper, slightly pained and full of self-inflicted worry, "I'm not ready for him to come home, I'm not ready to tell him…"

Understanding immediately what all that meant for her new lover and companion, Gracia rose from the bed, padding quietly over to Maes. Clad only in one of his tops, the young woman was nonetheless covered as she moved; the purple button up shirt fell to her knees and it only rode up an inch or two when she balanced on her toes to gently wrap her arms around his neck, "I know you're not, Maes. I know that this is hard for you, and that it will be hard for him too." Kissing Maes's cheek gently, she then let one of her hands slip down, gently twining her fingers with his, "We have three and a half hours before his train is due in, so just be with me one more time, and then I'll go and you can take all the time you need to talk to him."

She paused, her eyes and tone sincere, "I don't want to hurt either one of you."

Maes smiled softly now, a little of the worry lifting from his eyes as he gently brushed the pads of his fingers across her cheek, "You're a wonder, Gracia." He leaned down now, gently wrapping his arms around her waist as he kissed her softly, with the familiarity of untold nights together and a deep caring born of an ache to learn everything he could about the woman standing before him. When he finally broke the long, involved kiss, his voice was a little husky and her cheeks were flushed pink as he gently scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bed, speaking softly as he laid her down, "Thank you."

--

Cradling her softly in his arms as they lay together, basking in the feeling of being with one another, Maes was almost asleep by the time six that night rolled around. Fighting the urge to let himself slip completely into that welcoming slumber though, Maes boosted himself up on one elbow and smiled softly, watching the woman curled against him as her chest rose and fell in time with the soft sounds of her breathing.

Unbeknownst to him, at least for the first few seconds, Maes was being watched as well, but the sudden, ear-splitting crash of glass hitting the floor and shattering into dozens of violently sharp pieces alerted Maes to the man standing behind him very quickly. Eyes growing huge, he rolled over, feeling as though he was moving through molasses, to see the one man he never wanted to hurt staring at him, wine staining his pant leg from the knee down.

It was all Maes could do to breathe, much less figure out what to say to Roy as he stood there, seeing the man he loved lying with another person. When he finally managed to form his lips around a word, as shaky and scared sounding as that syllable was, Maes was barely able to push it out, "Roy?"

Maes watched in slow motion as Roy's finger came up, damning him in front of the unmistakable evidence laying in the bed next to him, "W… what?" It was obvious to Maes that Roy was having just as much trouble forming coherent thoughts as he was, but the older man could only fear what would come from Roy once he was able to.

Although he would berate himself for it later, knowing when he went back over the conversation in his mind later that night that it made him sound guilty, Maes couldn't help but to stutter out, "You… you're home…" Maes's mind was running in a thousand directions, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull those myriad thoughts together into one cohesive phrase, so his mouth kept shooting out incriminating words, "You said you weren't going to be home until eight…"

Roy's voice, when it echoed through the small apartment, was almost deafening in its harsh, sharp condemnation of the man standing in front of him, "What… is happening? Who is she?"

Dumbstruck, Maes just managed to drag himself to his feet, grabbing the spare sheet on the bed and wrapping it around his waist as though he hoped to hide the obvious fact that he was naked. Finally, his brain clicked into life just enough to allow him to try to explain himself, but the words felt hollow even as they formed on his lips, "Roy, I know, I know what this looks like, and I'm sorry. But, please, just give me a chance to explain!"

"What it… what it _looks_ like?!" Maes could see the righteously indignant look covering Roy's face as the alchemist went on, "What the hell has been happening?!"

Desperately wanting to calm his friend and companion down, Maes managed to take a few steps toward him, holding out a placating hand as he did so, "Please, Roy, please just sit down and give me a chance to explain." To be truthful, Maes really didn't have an explanation for this and he knew it, but he needed to try something, anything, to get Roy to listen to him.

"No!" Watching as Roy took a shaky step or two back to the door, Maes could have sworn he was starting to feel the floor drop out from under him, and it shook even more as Roy's words drilled into him, "No, there is nothing to explain! I've been… I've been fighting a war and you've been screwing around behind my back!"

"I could have died, and you… you…"

Maes lurched forward, taking a few wobbly steps as he tried, yet again, to appease the man standing before him, "And I messed up, Roy!" Feeling as though he could maim himself for doing this to the person he still loved, Maes keep going, fueled by the need to explain himself somehow, "I know I did and I'm sorry, but please, I do have a reason!" He reached for Roy again, but his hand fell miserably short, "You just need to let me talk to you."

"A reason?" At his wits end, Maes could only watch as Roy kept stabbing into him with every word he spoke, "You have a _reason_ to _lie_ to me?!" Maes would have given everything he had to reach out and pull Roy back to him when he took another step to the door, but it was all he could do to stay on his own two feet as Roy shook his head and continued berating him, "I don't want to hear it."

Feeling as though he just ruined what, at one time, had been the best thing he'd ever had in his life, Maes shook his head, frantic to reclaim what he's so afraid that he's already lost forever, "Please! Just give me one chance, I didn't mean for it to happen this way!"

The last Maes heard of the young soldier was a cry of mixed pain and anger, "It shouldn't have happened at all!"

Maes flinched as Roy slammed the door on his sudden exit, then sank to his knees in overwhelming sadness, cradling his face in his hands as he whispered to himself, "What did I do…"


End file.
